Feed aggregator

Ilkley, Wharfedale, West Yorkshire It is tempting to see the outward beauty and lethal potential of the river in the oversized eyes of a weathered stone relic

On this darkening evening, the sky above Wharfedale is wild and oceanic, and the river Wharfe is its turbulent likeness, swollen with rain and surging urgently eastwards. An excoriating wind, the kind that makes you grimace, whips brass, bronze, and copper foliage into the water for the current to swallow, hastening winter’s approach with every gust.

The sound and fury is suddenly muffled as I enter the centuries-brewed silence of Ilkley’s All Saints church. In the church’s collection of Anglo-Saxon crosses is an altar stone on which a figure is carved out of rough millstone grit. She wears a pleated robe and holds what appear to be two snakes in her hands. Her oversized eyes may have looked out on the world for almost two millennia.

Continue reading...

Australia is among nations calling for a 1 million square km marine park off East Antarctica. But Russia and China remain opposed, and a recent summit yet again failed to seal the deal. Cassandra Brooks, Assistant Professor Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Another round of UN climate negotiations kicks off in Bonn this month. With a Trump-shaped cloud hanging over the Paris Agreement, what approach can we expect Australia to adopt this time around? Marc Hudson, PhD Candidate, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Microgrid and wireless technologies will integrate renewable solar energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels to power World Heritage Site in South Africa.

The next event, if it occurs, may not be as damaging as the previous two, but could ruin the chances of coral recovery

The Great Barrier Reef could face more bleaching in the coming months, following unprecedented mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, which are believed to have killed half the coral.

Forecasts stretching to February are pushing the science to its limits, leaving significant uncertainty. But scientists say there is reason to be concerned, and some bleaching is very likely, although it won’t be anything like what happened during the past two years.

Continue reading...

Ausgrid offers big incentives for rooftop solar in Sydney, so it can save on network costs. It's a welcome change from the usual narrative about how rooftop solar is a burden to networks and consumers. Are battery storage and micro-grids next?

Australia is among the top seven countries worldwide responsible for 60% of the world’s biodiversity loss between 1996 and 2008, according to a study published last week in the journal Nature.

The University of Tasmania has been certified carbon as neutral against the National Carbon Offset Standard as part of its commitment to being a sectoral and community leader in sustainability.

Clean energy regulator takes action against solar company found to have installed rooftop PV systems without compliant Certificates of Electrical Safety.

Just days out from the start of the latest climate talks, PNG-based Oil Search has delivered a slap in the face to its Pacific neighbours.

Investors and activists have new ammunition to encourage public company disclosures on climate change risks and opportunities. They should use them.

Impact Investment Group secures $16.5m from specialist outfit Infradebt for 19MW merchant solar farm in northern Victoria.

There are fewer than 800 Tapanuli orangutan left in the wild.

Australia is among seven countries contributing to more than half of the world's biodiversity loss. Yet next month, a crucial network of long-term research sites will lose funding. Noel D Preece, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at Charles Darwin and, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Scientists have just identified a new great ape species - and it's already in danger.

Highly-specialised staff are needed to take over from European nuclear regulators after Brexit.

The apes in question were only reported to exist after an expedition into Sumatra mountains in 1997.

Scanning technology suggests there is a large, previously unknown cavity in the ancient monument.

Former CEFC boss Oliver Yates says he was ejected from Victorian Liberal Party fundraiser after a Senator presented Treasurer Scott Morrison with a lump of brown coal, in thanks for his work.

The European Environment Agency invited European citizens to capture how nature benefits them in a competition called Nature@work. Here are the winning images, announced this week

Continue reading...